The present invention addresses a pressing need in the art of fishing, particularly in the field of competitive fishing.
In fishing tournaments, scoring is frequently tabulated by summing the weights of all fish caught by an angler entered in the tournament over a period of time. Such tournaments almost universally have a limit on the number of fish that can be caught. As a result of these rules, fish of high weight are greatly valued. As fish are caught, typically the angler will place the fish in the boat's live well, which is a compartment within the hull of the boat accessible by the angler and controllably filled with water by the angler from the surrounding body of water. Once an angler has caught the maximum number of fish permitted by the tournament rules, he may continue fishing in the hopes that a subsequently-caught fish will weigh more than the lowest weight fish amongst those already caught.
Culling is a method of removing the fish with the smallest weight from the live well and returning it to the wild, and then replacing that fish with a more recently caught fish of a higher weight. As the tournament continues, a successful angler may be able to repeatedly replace the fish with the lowest weight with a heavier fish, thereby continuously increasing his score in the tournament. Therefore, culling is an important part of competitive fishing, and it would be highly useful to have a tool, system or method for effectively and efficiently culling fish.